In 2011, a Justice Department ruling allowed states to enact their own online gambling statutes. So far Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware have legalized it, and more than a dozen additional states have also looked into doing so.

Adelson and his wife spent nearly $100 million on Republican causes in the 2012 election, with mixed results. The Post says he is hoping Congress will issue a national ban, and has already hired three former high-powered elected officials, including former New York governor George Pataki, as lobbyists.